Shuffle! Soul searching and new beginnings!
by Sargent Toughie
Summary: Summer vacation is finally here! With Rin out of the house, Kaede no longer has anybody that she can take care of, and her life starts to lose meaning. However, Sia is more then happy to help her try to find a new passion. Sia X Kaede.
1. Chapter 1

Break time! I'm getting kinda tired of my typical action based dramas. So now, I'm writing something completely different. Since I'm rather new to this more relaxed style of writing, the chapters won't be quite as lengthy as my usual writing (to compare, it's a THIRD of the length of my shortest _Legacy Gundam_ chapter), but I hope it won't affect the quality of the story too much. I'd be happy to hear any feedback that you readers out there might have too, this is a whole new world for me. With that out of the way, I hope that you enjoy the first chapter of _Shuffle! Soul searching and new beginnings!  
_

Oh! Almost forgot, mandatory disclaimer.  
**Sargent Toughie does not own Shuffle! nor any of the characters that appear in this story. This, however, will not stop his conquest for world domination.**

And now, with that out of the way, read on.

* * *

**Shuffle! Soul searching and new beginnings!  
**

**Chapter 1**

Sia stretched lightly as she stepped out of bed and made her way to the lower level of her house. Since her father was going to be out of the house until late today, the red head didn't have to worry about getting out of her night gown. As she finished the descent, she glanced over lazily to see her blonde friend hard at work in the kitchen. Still extremely groggy, she strolled in and pushed herself up into one of the taller chairs that sat propped up against the counter that led to the kitchen. She then laid her arms down on the counter and nuzzled her head into them, almost on the verge of falling asleep again at the counter. Upon seeing her friend at work in the kitchen, Sia couldn't help but recall the one time that the two of them accidentally kissed. Things were a little awkward for a few days after that, but it got back to normal fairly quick. Still, every time Sia saw her, that memory kept popping up in her mind, it absolutely refused to stay down.  
"Kaede, what in the world are you doing over here so early? I didn't expect you here until noon."

The blonde girl turned around to face Sia with an energetic smile. How she pulled herself out of bed so early, and still had so much energy in her, was something that would forever remain a mystery to Sia... And during summer vacation, of all possible times. Sia saw this as the prime time of the year to wake up late, be lazy for most of the day, and have fun for what ended up remaining of the day, all without having any worries at all. Apparently though, Sia was just about the only person out of her entire group of friends that thought this way.

Since they weren't bogged down with school for the entire summer, quite a few of Sia's friends had gone out and gotten summer jobs so that they could have a little bit of extra spending money. Rin started working at a financial office, sorting papers as an intern. He'd always complain about how boring it was, but he raked in a considerable bundle of money for a high school student, that was standard for white collar work though, Sia considered him lucky. Asa started lending a hand at the local day care, thanks to Rin, she now had the ability to keep up with all of the toddlers without worrying about her body seizing up due to an overload of magical energy. Mayumi had taken up her dream job and was acting as a freelance photographer, she ended up selling most of her photos to the local magazine. Itsuki had gotten a job at the beach, figuring that it was the perfect way for him to get around the ladies... However, he was tragically mistaken when he realized that he'd spend his entire day washing towels in the back rooms.

Those that didn't get jobs filled their summer with other activities. Nerine had decided to study cooking further, and started taking lessons from Primula, of all people, since Primula had moved back in with Nerine and her father for the summer. Sia had no such activity in her life, as she planned to use the entire summer to relax an unwind from a rather stressful year of schoolwork. And Kaede... well... she was Kaede.

Since both Rin and Primula had moved out of the house, Kaede didn't have anybody around that she could tend to. After a few days, it was apparent to Sia that she was starting to get rather lonely living in that house all by herself. Eventually, Sia offered that, if she wanted to, Kaede could come over to her house and hang out whenever she wanted. The result was Kaede pretty much falling back into her old niche of acting as the house maid. Sia was certainly against having Kaede work the entire day, but if it stopped her from going back into her psychotic boxcutter mode, then Sia was more then happy to have the blonde work her heart out. Besides, that was more time for Sia to do what she wanted to do, instead of clean around the house.

Kaede laid down a large plate of food in front of the utterly drained Sia and smiled at her happily, replying to her question about why the blonde came so early.  
"Oh, I really don't have anything better to do, so I figured I'd get a start on my day early."

Sia groaned and lifted herself up to look at the food, it was certainly all well prepared, leagues away from what she herself could have done. This was one of the benefits to having Kaede come around every day, and Sia certainly wasn't going to complain about it.  
"mmgh, thanks."

Kaede backed away and started messing with something out of Sia's sight, though she honestly didn't care enough to investigate as she took a few light bites of the breakfast. Kaede spoke quickly as Sia ate, who was still stunned at how awake Kaede appeared to be, when Sia herself had just barely managed to rip herself from her bed.  
"I'm just glad that you get yourself out of bed. Back when Rin lived with me, I always needed to go get him up."

Sia laughed a little, she started to feel a bit more awake now that she had a little bit of food in her, didn't hurt matters at all that it tasted fantastic.  
"heh, that sure sounds like Rin, alright."

There was a pause for a few seconds in the room as Sia enjoyed her meal and Kaede finished up whatever it was she was doing out of Sia's sight. After a few seconds, Kaede turned to Sia with a light smile, since the red haired girl was considerably more lively after her meal.  
"So Sia, what do you have planned for the day?"

Sia shrugged and relaxed forward on the table as the plate was taken away from her. After taking a moment to think about it, the red head replied to the question.  
"Oh, I dunno... I think I might just go downtown and see where the day takes me. Some of the most fun stuff in the world happens on a moment's notice."

Kaede nodded and tossed the plate into the sink, she then turned around and rested her back against the counter to face Sia while the two girls talked.  
"Well, sounds interesting. You should end up having a pretty fun day then."

Sia rolled her head off her hands and started to step off the chair, most days when she went out without a plan, Sia got bored and ended up going back home after a few hours. With that in mind, she decided to reconsider on the idea, and try to come up with something a bit more concrete that she could occupy her day with. As she pressed her feet back against the ground, she continued the conversation between her and Kaede.  
"What about you, Kaede? What do you plan on doing today?"

Kaede stopped and cast her gaze up towards the ceiling, as though this was the first time all day that she had thought about what she would do once she no longer had Sia's house to clean. Kaede had been 'helping' Sia with house chores for about three days now. Kaede's dedication to her work showed in just how much cleaner the house was, now that she was coming over every day.  
"hmm... Well... there are a lot of things here I can do to occupy my time..."

Sia stopped and looked around the room, her voice was filled with a mixture of humor and disbelief at Kaede's statement.  
"Kaede... the house has never been so spotless before."

Kaede returned her gaze to Sia, there was a scary amount of honesty in her voice. Sia couldn't help but shudder a little at how dedicated to her tasks that Kaede was. She always knew that Kaede was the serving type, but she honestly had no idea how much passion went into it.  
"Oh, it's the little things that make all the difference. For instance-"

Sia just cut her off there, since she herself couldn't imagine spending an entire day dedicated to cleaning and taking care of the house, she couldn't fathom the fact that Kaede was about to give up her third. Besides, she felt partially responsible, since she saw it as her fault that Kaede spent her entire time cleaning instead of having fun, which was what Sia originally intended when she extended the offer for Kaede to come over.  
"Kaede, stop. You're not going to waste your third day in a row in this house, like some kind of full time maid or something."  
"Oh, well I don't really-"  
"You're coming out with me today, and we're going to have some fun. What do you like doing besides cooking and cleaning?"

Kaede stopped for a moment, it looked like she was honestly trying to think of something that she had done recently other then go to school and serve Rin.  
"Well... er..."

Sia stopped cold in her tracks for a second, an utterly shocked expression washed over her features. How could it even be possible that she had gone her entire life without having fun when she was out of school? That was no way that any person deserved to live their life.  
"No way..."

She only paused for a couple of seconds before she rose her voice and started walking towards Kaede.  
"Unacceptable! We're going to find you a new hobby today, and you're going to like it!"

Sia grabbed Kaede by the arm and started walking towards the door. She could already hear Kaede object about something.  
"Um, Sia, maybe you should-"  
"No objections!"

Sia laid her hand on the door handle, but before she could turn it to open the door, Kaede spoke again.  
"Sia, you really should get dressed before you go outside."

Sia stopped when she heard that, she looked down to see that she was still wearing her night gown that she had slept in. As she realized that she was about to go outside wearing it, her face flushed and she let go of Kaede's arm. She spun around to face the blonde and started to scratch her head.  
"Heh, heh... yeah, that's probably a good idea..."

Sia moved out from her position by the door and made her way over to the stairs. As she started her ascent towards her room, she spoke out towards Kaede.  
"I'll be down in a minute, so just wait for me, okay?"

As the sound of a shutting door rang out, Kaede sighed and rested up against a wall.  
"Oh, Sia... I know I should be grateful, but..."

Her voice trailed off as she lost herself in thought.


	2. Chapter 2

I'm going to go ahead and apologize to all fans of costume porn out there, that's not exactly my market. I'll say what they're wearing, but don't ever expect me to go into extreme detail about every last aspect of their outfit. It just clogs up the story without adding anything... Much like Author's notes... Read and enjoy.

* * *

**Shuffle! Soul searching and new beginnings!**

**Chapter 2**

When Sia came back down the stairs, she was wearing a pretty plain outfit, a pair of blue jeans and a brown tank top. She didn't bother to get all dressed up for a day out in town, after all, she wasn't trying to impress anybody anymore, now that she had lost the race for Rin's heart. The redhead smiled happily as she saw Kaede waiting for her at the door that would take them out of the house, today would be the first day of what Sia was sure would be a real conquest. She was sure that it wouldn't be easy, to find Kaede a hobby outside of being a house maid. Still, it would be worth the effort to see her friend happy again, spending an entire life in servitude was a life wasted. Kaede smiled gently at Sia as she finished her descent, judging from her voice, she seemed to actually be looking forward to the events of the day.  
"So, Sia, where do you think we should go?"

Sia spoke in a relaxed voice as she made her way to the door, Kaede opened it, and the two girls made their way outside. The day was still very young, and Sia had hopes that they would at least find a basic lead at what Kaede was interested in before the end of it.  
"Well, let's go into town first, and see if any of the shops catch your eye."

Kaede nodded, there was a surprisingly strong determination in her eye as she replied.  
"Got it, I'll take a look at what they've got."

There was a brief moment of silence between the two girls as Sia led the way out to the road in front of her house. Kaede silently followed Sia as the two girls came to the nearby bus stop and sat down. After enough time passed without words, Sia got a little uncomfortable and turned to Kaede.  
"So, do you have any idea on where we could start?"

Kaede lowered her head as she thought to herself for a few seconds before she turned to Sia and shook her head.  
"No, sorry."

Sia sighed and brushed a bit of her hair back behind her ear, casting her gaze downward as she did.  
"Oh, it's no big deal, I just figured it would help to narrow down the search a little."  
"Sorry again."  
"Hey! I told you not to worry about it!"

Sia laughed for a moment as the bus rolled up, and she rose from the bench and stretched her arms up over her head as the large transport came to a stop.  
"Now come on, it's time to go see what we can get ourselves into."

The bus doors opened, but Sia wasn't very happy with what she saw as she stepped up the small stairs and looked into the bus itself.  
"Oh no..."

She looked a bit stunned as she saw that the bus was absolutely stuffed, so much so that there were people standing up in the aisle because they had ran out of chairs, but hey, at least the people that were standing up were few and far between. Kaede stepped on shortly behind Sia, curious as to what was the matter.  
"Sia? What is it?"

The bus driver looked at Sia, a bit annoyed that she hadn't gone all the way inside yet.  
"Come on lady, I've got a lot of stops to make still."

Sia turned to the driver, a bit embarrassed that she had seized up the way she did, and laughed gently because of it.  
"Oh sorry."

Sia stepped into the aisle and grabbed the metal bar up near the top, Kaede did the same with just a few inches of space between the two girls. At least there was enough space for her to breathe, Sia was grateful for that. As the bus doors shut again and the large transport continued down the road, Sia smiled at Kaede.  
"We'll be in town soon, it's not too long of a ride."

However, the ride would get quite a bit more awkward once the bus made it's next stop. Nobody got off, and even more people got on. This resulted in one particularly rude man bumping into Kaede, which sent her backwards, face to face with Sia, their bodies pressing against one another. Kaede would have moved away, but the pile of people in front of her had moved in, and didn't give her enough space to do so. The result was about ten to fifteen minutes of Sia and Kaede, up against one another, their faces centimeters apart, with no way of escaping. Both girls started to blush furiously after a few seconds of this, Sia squirmed around a little, which only made it more awkward. It was like the kiss back in school all over again, but this time they were stuck in the position for the next several minutes. As the bus hit a particularly bad bump, both girls were jolted a little, and their faces were brought even closer for a few instants, though they didn't actually kiss. Still, it was enough to make Sia's heart miss a beat as she was shoved just a little bit closer to Kaede.

What was only fifteen minutes ended up feeling like a few hours as Sia and Kaede finally got off the bus and stepped into the lively and bustling city. They decided to take a few moments to recover from their extremely close proximity, as neither girl said anything for a surprising length of time as they finally put some space between the two of them. Kaede was still blushing, while Sia's face had settled down only a few seconds after getting off the bus.

Sia turned to Kaede and smiled lightly, she decided to herself that she would be the first to put that rather uncomfortable scene behind her.  
"So! Let's go have some fun."

Kaede's blush started to fade, she tilted her head to the side and spoke in an uneasy voice.  
"Um, I thought we were here to find me a hobby..."  
"Yeah! But what's to stop us from having fun doing it?"

Sia grabbed Kaede by the arm and started leading her down the road to the shopping district.  
"Come on!"

* * *

Kaede wasn't sure when it happened at first, perhaps it was the kiss, perhaps it was before that. All she knew was that she was starting to develop feelings for somebody other then Rin, she was starting to fall in love again, with Sia of all people.

At first, she wasn't very comfortable with the idea of being in love with another girl. However, as more time passed, as she had more time to think about her feelings, she grew progressively more comfortable with the idea. Perhaps she was just desperate for the feeling of loving again, with Rin being taken out of her life only such a short time ago. It was possible that she just had a hole left in her heart once Rin left, and she was simply desperate to patch it up by replacing it with the nearest and most convenient person, and Kaede was aware of that possibility. Even if that were the case though, Kaede didn't care, she allowed Sia to take Rin's place, and when the redhead offered to have Kaede come over, the blonde saw it as her opening. But now, Sia was out here helping Kaede find a passion outside of her work, and deep in her heart, Kaede was grateful to her for that.

She just wished that she could work up the courage to tell Sia, but she was sure that the redhead would object to such a thing. She was sure that Sia wouldn't want to see her again, and then Kaede would be alone again, just like before. Needless to say, because of Kaede's developing feelings, the train ride was significantly more awkward and uncomfortable then it could have been otherwise. As Sia grabbed Kaede by the arm and led her away, Kaede went along without saying a word, as she wondered if she would ever get the chance to see if her feelings were real or not.

* * *

The two girls then spent the next few hours wandering around the shopping district, as Sia tried to get a grasp of anything that Kaede would be interested in pursuing as a hobby. However, such an obviously daunting task proved to be rather challenging, as Kaede didn't seem as invested in the search as Sia would have preferred. The two girls walked up to a perfume stand, where Sia ignored Kaede for a few moments while she browsed the selection. For a small stand, it had some pretty decent goods, Sia turned to where Kaede was standing only moments ago and spoke as she did so.  
"You see, Kaede, the trick is to try to find a scent that-"

When she turned to the side, there was nobody there. Sia tilted her head a little and looked around, curious as to where Kaede had gotten.  
"Um, Kaede?"

When Sia did a little bit of investigating, she saw that Kaede had walked over to a nearby food vendor and was comparing two different types of apples. She was muttering small words to herself, as she seemed to be thinking about which type would be better to purchase. While Sia herself also did such things, she did them at such a time that it was mandatory, she never had a particular passion for groceries when the possibility for entertainment presented itself. However, Sia was well aware that trying to pull Kaede away from the food stand would only hurt the poor blonde's fragile feelings, so she just shook her head lightly and waited nearby until her blonde friend had browsed until her heart was content.

However, the redhead would quickly realize just how terrible of a decision that would turn out to be, as Kaede trying to bargain shop for quality products was almost as bad as letting Nerine loose in karaoke bar. Of course, the latter only became a real issue once Nerine got a bit more confident about her singing voice, which took quite a while. Still, the end result was the same, and Sia wasn't about to have any of it. After about ten minutes had passed, ten long, unbearable minutes of Sia standing off to the side and waiting for Kaede to decide between two different brands of apples, she walked forward and latched her hand around Kaede's wrist, an annoyed and yet somehow still extremely adorable look in her eye as she started to yank the blonde away from the food vendor.  
"Would you just make a decision so that we can go already! We're supposed to be looking for girly things today!"

Kaede shifted around, her eyes widening a bit when she saw how annoyed her friend had gotten from her hesitation in purchases. Much to the sorrow of the vendor, who was looking to score a huge purchase off her, the blonde girl was dragged away completely apple free, sputtering out apologies to Sia the entire way. Sia wasn't overly sure just how long she kept Kaede's wrist, but it was for a long enough time that the food vendor was nothing more then a distant memory by the time that the redhead finally calmed down to the point that she freed Kaede from the finger prison that Sia had locked her in.

Kaede rubbed her wrist, which was somewhat sore when Sia let go, while the redhead came to a halt and turned around, and chuckled lightly while scratching the back of her head. She had gone just a little bit too far over something relatively small, a realization that hit her once she stopped moving for a moment, and one that embarrassed her significantly.  
"Heh... Sorry about that Kaede."

Kaede still held her wrist, looking at Sia with a slightly wider look in her eye then usual, almost like a sad puppy.  
"Sia... I-"  
**"You fiend! How dare you harm our precious Kaede!"**

Sia's attention was turned skyward, as the kind of overly energetic voice that she just heard could only belong to the members of a certain group that Sia could have sworn was disbanded once Rin turned his attention towards Asa. Tragically for Sia, she hit the nail straight on the head, as a man in his mid thirties, wearing an absurd looking superhero outfit, dropped down between the two of them, glaring at Sia. Across his chest was plastered a massive KK... Huh... it was only two this time.  
"Kaede is like a rare and precious flower among a world of smog and industrialism! I will not allow you to trample her before she is allowed to bloom! Man or woman, you are now an enemy of Kissie Kaede, the most-"

Sia had to cut him off at that point, odd that she was the one that would correct him about the name of his group.  
"Um, wasn't it Kissie Kissie Kaede last time? Two Kissies?"

The man simply groaned, turning his head down dejectedly as he was both cut off, and brought back to that painful, horrible day.  
"We were sued by an American group using that name already, we either had to change it, or pay a bunch of money."

Sia actually felt kinda sorry for the guy, her tone getting a little bit quieter for a moment as she looked down at the dejected man with a significantly creeped out look on her face. She had forgotten all about how absurd and crazy some of these guys could get.  
"Oh, well that's sad."  
**"But that's not the point here!"**

Sia let out an audible shout and backed up as the man suddenly started to spasm with energy again, suddenly shouting as he sprung from his dejected position. Kaede, meanwhile, spent the entire time blinking in confusion, and had tried to get the man's attention to correct the misunderstanding when he suddenly snapped at Sia, causing Kaede to gasp and go quiet again.  
**"The point is that you have harmed Kaede! And for that you must be-"**

The superhero was cut off when a chair suddenly went sailing across the road, the metal folding chair collided with his head and caused him to topple over with little more then a grunt. With another startled shout, Sia turned her head towards the source of the chair, to find another middle aged man across the street, carrying beside him an entire rack of metal folding chairs.  
**"You can't talk to our beloved Sia like that!"**

The superhero started to get up, growling under his breath.  
"So, the SSS has also reformed, huh?"

The man sprung back to his feet quickly, charging across the street against the bombardment of chairs that this brought along with him. While the two stalker gang members were duking it out, Sia took Kaede's wrist, this time a bit gentler, and started to pull her down the street, a bit slower. "Come on, let's bail before either of those jokers realize that we're gone." Kaede, with a much happier look in her eye now that Sia was being a bit gentler, nodded. "Okay!"

And with that, both girls were walking down the street again, leaving the rather unusual scene behind them as they sought to continue their day of fun, adventure, and finding Kaede a hobby outside of maid work.


	3. Chapter 3

Egads! What is this! Sargent Toughie is alive! Well, yes, as a matter of fact I am alive. Thanks to all of you who have been way more patient for my chapter updates then I rightfully deserve, and I promise that I'll try to make it worth your while once I get back in the swing of writing... TRY being the key word there, since I don't exactly have a winning record when it comes to consistent updates on this website. If you think it's been too long since I've updated any of my stories (more then a few weeks or so), please don't hesitate to start poking me in the shoulder until I start dragging myself back to the keyboard to do some writing. No, I'm not being sarcastic when I say that either. I enjoy writing, I'm just usually too lazy to actually do any of it if I don't pester myself enough. Anyway, on to other news.

I like updating this story, because it's shorter and easier to write on short notice then my other ones, so while I'm writing, I figure I might as well just tack on a news update for the rest of my channel as well. My top priorities will be this story and my current Megaman X one, since those will be the two that are easiest to write. I plan on going back to my rift story when I have more of my stories cleared up and I can dedicate more time and affection to it, and I'm just considering throwing the reboot at the lumbering behemoth I have over my head called Legacy Gundam. I'll be going into more detail on the potential reboot on an update all it's own, so keep an eye out for that, if you care.

Anyway, on to the reason that you came here today. Please enjoy chapter 3 of Shuffle! Soul searching and new beginnings!

…...

**Shuffle! Soul searching and new beginnings!**

**Chapter 3**

Sia let out a small sigh as she dropped Kaede's wrist when the two of them finally left those two goons behind to brawl with one another. When the two girls had at least some semblance of privacy again, the redhead turned around and smiled at her blonde friend with her hands behind her back. "Alright then, we need to come up with a plan of attack if we're going to find you some kind of new hobby at any kind of a reasonable pace. It's pretty clear that I've taken up the most daunting task imaginable." Sia giggled playfully, only giving Kaede a few seconds to look apologetic before the redhead smiled brightly and nodded. "Still! I love a good challenge. Rest assured, Kaede, by the end of the day I'll find something that you can care about outside of being a house maid, I haven't changed that!" Kaede, at this point, tried to lift a finger to get in a word or two, but Sia didn't notice, as she spun around and started walking down the sidewalk while talking the entire way. "Still, we'll have to at least be a bit more careful, with all of those weirdos walking around and everything." With that, Sia turned around again, finally giving Kaede the chance to speak as she just let out one question and waited patiently for Kaede to answer. "So what do you think, Kaede? Has anything hit you yet?"

Kaede simply fell silent for a few seconds, as she played with her thumbs when she finally had a chance to speak. Her wrist still felt oddly warm from where Sia had gripped it, and Kaede couldn't get thoughts of the redhead being so close to her out of her mind. Ever since that bus ride, that was all that occupied Kaede's mind, it got so bad that she had to pretend to be indecisive about some street vendor in order to just get a little bit of time to herself to try and think about it. Of course, that had backfired, but Kaede wasn't about to come out and tell that to Sia. "Well, I think that-" Kaede suddenly paused, as a small roaring sound suddenly came from her stomach. At the sound of that, Sia suddenly started to giggle brightly before she leaned in towards Kaede teasingly. "You hungry, Kaede?" Kaede took a step back, her cheeks were now a shade of deep red as she put some distance between the two girls, while she stepped back, she also nodded gently. The blonde's words came out soft and uneasy, as Kaede tried to get her mind back on it's appropriate tracks. "Well... yeah. If you want, we could just head home and I could-" Sia didn't even give her a chance to finish as she stood up straight and shook her head. "Don't even say it, Kaede, you're not going to lock yourself in the kitchen again. C'mon, I think there's a pretty good cafe' nearby, we can get some lunch there." Kaede paused at that, she tilted her head gently to the side before she spoke in a gentle voice. "Um, wouldn't it be cheaper if we just went back though?" Sia shook her head, not losing her bright and cheery attitude for a second as she continued down the road. "Kaede, my dad is the lord of the gods, I don't think money is going to be an issue." With that, Kaede simply sighed gently and followed Sia down the road. "If you insist..."

The two girls walked for about five minutes before they came out to a rather lovely looking little cafe that was planted right at the entrance to a small park. Sia had to admit, it was pretty smart to set up an outdoor section to the place when there was such lovely scenery just a stone's throw away, it almost felt kind of like a picnic, even though the food was prepared inside. With a bright smile, Sia looked over at Kaede to see if she approved of the setting, and apparently she did, as she herself was also smiling at the sight of it. "What do you think, Kaede? Think you'll be able to stand eating out for lunch instead of preparing it yourself today?" Kaede lowered her head and laughed just a little bit, before she nodded her head in response. "I think I'll manage." Sia gave Kaede a pleased and grateful look before she reached over and took the blonde's wrist again, more because she liked the contact between them then anything else, and led the two of them inside. She found it strange that she was so fond of leading Kaede around by the wrist, in it's own strange way, it sort of felt natural for Sia to hold on to Kaede in this manner. Sure, it was nothing intimate, even the rather vanilla act of holding hands was farther down the line then what Sia was doing, but the redhead simply couldn't stop herself, and it obviously wasn't a problem with Kaede, she didn't seem to care. She pushed her thoughts away and simply went about leading Kaede into the cafe to get the two of them seated. She could see rain clouds moving in to overtake the otherwise rather beautiful blue sky of the afternoon, and while she certainly loved rain, she didn't think that being outside eating lunch wouldn't be the best time to be caught by such weather. Still, she'd have to be sure to pick up an umbrella later if they came by some kind of shop, that was her favorite part about the rain, it was just a shame that Rin couldn't be here for her to share the umbrella with... and yet...

Sia's eyes drifted back towards Kaede as her thoughts advanced further, and her face instantly went a deep shade of red before she snapped her attention back forward and shoved those thoughts instantly out of her mind. She really shouldn't have gone down that path of thinking in the first place, and now she was all flustered as a result. She just hoped that Kaede didn't notice anything, otherwise this lunch of their would get quite a bit more awkward. Thankfully, if Kaede really did notice how flustered Sia's train of thought had gotten her, she sure didn't show it. In all honesty, she seemed more confused then anything else, which helped Sia calm herself down a great deal. With that little incident over, Sia let go of her wrist and walked up to the receptionist at the front of the cafe, where they were quickly directed to a table over in the corner of the outdoor section.

Once they were seated, Sia softly stretched her arms over her head and relaxed in on the table. While her head rested on her hands and she was leaned in forward, she watched the way that Kaede settled in to her chair and sat straight upwards nice and politely. It was actually rather humorous to see the way that the blonde girl was so self contained and polite. When Kaede was fully settled in, Sia dove right into a question, seeing this as the perfect opportunity to question her friend a little more in depth now that they were sitting down and waiting on service. "So Kaede, have you had your eye on anybody else around here other then just Rin? There's gotta be somebody that you think is kinda cute." At that, Kaede's cheeks just went a soft shade of red as she coughed softly into her hand. It took her a few seconds, but she eventually stammered out a response. "Oh, um... Not really, I'm afraid."

Sia wasn't buying it, she leaned in a little bit more as her eyes narrowed mischievously. "Are you sure? You know that you can talk to me, right Kaede? We're friends, after all. I won't tell anybody." Sia's words only served to make Kaede's cheeks a deeper shade of red as she shook her head a little bit. "No, really, I'm fine." Sia simply giggled a little more, as she realized that a blushing Kaede was just about the cutest thing in the world. One had to question rather or not this was Sia for these few moments, or if her twin sister had taken over instead. "C'mon... not even a little hint? I can keep a secret." Kaede's face was now about as red as a cherry as she shook her head yet again, and Sia decided to show the blonde a bit of mercy as she just shrugged and backed up in her chair. "Well, fine, but I'll be here to listen if you want to talk about it, okay?"

With that said there was a silence between the two girls for a few seconds, which gave Kaede enough time to calm down before the waitress came over and asked what they would like to drink. Kaede requested a water, while Sia got the local brand of soda. Once the drink orders were taken, the waitress smiled politely and pressed a finger to her notepad. "You two are actually in luck today, we're having a special sale on our famous fish platter. If you buy one meal at full price, you get a second one at half off." After they heard about the promotion, Sia gave Kaede a small and curious look to see if she was interested before she decided to take her up on the idea. After all, neither girl had actually been here before, so getting the best dish in the entire place was as good a way to get a good first impression as anything else. With the waitress gone, Sia gave Kaede a curious look as she wondered aloud about just how good the fish here was. "She did say that it was their 'famous' platter, but I haven't heard of it before... What do you think, Kaede?" Kaede simply smiled eagerly and gave Sia a nod while she spoke. "Try everything once, I always say."

The two girls shared rather casual conversation for a few minutes before their plates were brought out to them. When she finally had a chance to take a look at what she'd be eating, Sia had to admit that she was won over from just a first glance. The meal looked absolutely masterfully prepared, and the aroma that it was letting off was enough to get the redhead primed and ready to sink her teeth into this positively delicious looking piece of art. Naturally, she grabbed her sticks quickly and was about to dig in when she looked up at Kaede, and saw that the blonde was looking at something behind Sia with a nervous and somewhat scared look in her eye. "What is it, Kaede?" Before Kaede could respond, Sia suddenly heard a grown man's voice behind her, letting out a small groan as he suddenly lunged for the table. "Fiiiiiiish" Sia would have been knocked to the side, but she had good enough reflexes to grab her plate and jump out of the way before the man stumbled ungracefully into her chair and gripped the table. Sia glared bullets at the man, who looked to be in about his mid to late twenties. "Hey! What's the big idea! In case you didn't notice, this is my lunch here!" The man didn't listen though, as he simply rose from the table and lunged at Sia again. "FIIIIIISH!" Sia stepped back again, keeping her plate safely out of his grip. "Stop that!"

By now, Kaede had risen from her chair as well, and was taking a step forward to try and mediate between Sia and the crazed man, but before she could, a young woman about the same age as her suddenly lunged for Kaede's plate as well, having appeared in the park behind where the two girls were sitting. "Fiiiish!" Before Kaede could react, the other woman grabbed her plate and pulled it over to her side of the fence, where she started to devour the contents. Kaede just let out a soft gasp, turning towards Sia to see that she was now dealing with about three or four different brain dead patrons creeping towards her, all of them slowly getting closer and closer to Sia's precious lunch.

"Fish."  
"Fiiisssh?"  
"Fiiiiiiiiish..."

Sia was standing her ground though, she refused to surrender over her lunch to these strange and mysterious creatures. "I thought I told you all to get lost!" At that point, Kaede saw a small back door that the two could use to get away from the slowly growing horde, so she grabbed Sia's free hand and urged her to come along. "Sia, this way." Sia decided to place her trust in where Kaede wanted to lead her, so she simply nodded and followed along as Kaede ran the two of them over to a nearby door, opened it, then shut and locked it once the two of them were safely inside. Kaede and Sia both took a moment to catch their breath before they realized that they were still holding hands, and both of them jerked out of the grip with more then just a little bit of blush in their respective cheeks. Thankfully, before they had too much time to dwell on the mild discomfort of them holding hands, a loud banging on the door brought them both back to reality as Sia walked over to the door and peeked through the looking glass to see the patrons on the outside. "They're still out there! Geez! How good is this stuff!" Meanwhile, Kaede was looking around the room that she had led the two of them into, apparently it was some kind of utility closet or something, since it had a lot of odds and ends in it that would have just cluttered up the building outside.

Sia had seen enough of the patrons outside, as she stepped back towards Kaede with her plate still in hand. "Let's see here... there's only one door out of here, so I guess..." Her eyes suddenly got a sinister glint in them as she offered Kaede her fish platter. "Kaede, hold on to this for me, would you?" Kaede simply nodded and accepted the lunch meal while she watched the redhead go over to the corner of the room and start picking up various kinds of chairs, where she did a test swing with each of them as she assessed the durability and condition of each and every one. "Hmm, this one's got more sting, but it might break... while this one..." Kaede simply giggled and looked around the room on her own, until she saw a roll of plastic wrap sitting up on one of the counters. If Sia was going to be swinging her way out of here, the least Kaede could do was protect the meal for her, right?

Within a few minutes. Sia had selected the chair that she wanted to go with, while Kaede had lovingly and diligently wrapped up the lunch. Sia pressed herself up against the door with her chair firmly gripped in one hand, while the other one was resting on the door knob. "Alright, you ready Kaede?" Kaede simply gave a small nod. "ready." And with that, Sia suddenly threw open the door and started swinging violently, chair meeting face with several a crazed patron hitting the ground shortly thereafter. Sia's attack was so swift and powerful that the rather sluggish and unprepared patrons simply didn't know how to react before it was far too late. With just a few decisive seconds, Sia cleared the way to the entrance for a swift escape, and she tossed the chair to the side. "We're clear! Run for it!" In the corner of her eye, she could already see several of the patrons getting up, so they had to operate on a very small clock to make their escape.

The two girls quickly fled from the cafe, completely blowing off the receptionist where they would normally pay and leave a tip. Sia turned back and waved at her, shouting as they continued their retreat. "We'll come back later to pay and return the plate! Promise!" The receptionist would have called after them and tried to get their attention, but she suddenly had a bigger issue to deal with as a horde of patrons that were stumbling their way out of the cafe demanding more fish. Thanks to the distraction provided to both the receptionist and the patrons, the two girls were able to make a clean getaway.

The two girls didn't stop running until they were in the middle of the park, and they sat down at a park bench while they caught their breath. Sia was the first one to talk, getting words out in between gasps of breath. "Well that... was... that was weird." After a few more seconds, the two of them fully caught their breath, and Kaede was able to offer Sia her lunch again. "Here you go, I even wrapped it for you and everything." Sia turned towards Kaede in surprise, not expecting her to take such care of her lunch like that. "Oh... um... thanks. Here's hoping that it was worth it." With that, she took the plate back, unwrapped it, and grabbed a piece of the fish with her sticks. After a few seconds to take a deep breath and calm her nerves, Sia popped the fish into her mouth and chewed. Kaede looked on curiously, trying to read Sia's reaction while she sampled it. "So?" After the first bite, Sia's eyes lit up happily and she instantly grabbed another piece of the fish. "It's really, really good!" Sia went on to eat about two or three more bites before she glanced over at Kaede to see the sad smile that the blonde was wearing, before she remembered that Kaede's lunch didn't make it out safely. Of course Kaede wouldn't say anything, she was never really one to vocalize her own desires. With a gentle smile, Sia offered Kaede the utensils. "Here, we can share it." Kaede looked genuinely surprised for a moment, and she spoke in a soft voice. "Are you sure, I mean it's your-" Sia cut in again, as she shook her head gently. "I'm sure, eat." Kaede's smile got much more genuine as she nodded, and began alternating bites of the lunch along with Sia.

After a little while, since the two girls had decided to slow down and make it last longer, Sia leaned in a little bit towards Kaede and reached towards the fish with her fingers. "Fiiiiiish." Kaede let out a small, startled yelp and watched in dismay, as she thought that her friend had been lost to the craze. However, at the last second, the hand that was reaching towards the lunch suddenly lifted up and gently grabbed Kaede's cheek while Sia gave her a playful smile. "Aw! I'm just kidding!" Kaede, now quite embarrassed, simply started to giggle softly. After a few seconds, Sia started to giggle along with her, and before too long, both girls were letting out genuine, full laughs as they recalled the extremely strange incident at the cafe.

Kaede was the first to speak again once they were settling down from their moment, though her words came out in between small, soft giggles. "Here's hoping the rest of our day is a bit more normal now." She had no way of knowing it, but she had just jinxed the two of them, she had just jinxed them hard.

**End of chapter 3**


End file.
